BMC, NGO tie up for composting plant

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In a bid to tackle the city’s ever-increasing garbage, the M East ward office in Govandi has tied up with NGO Come-Post to compost 30 tonnes of waste every day.

The ward generates 390 tonnes of waste daily, of which 30 tonnes are being composted locally. The civic body wants to increase capacity to 100 tonnes to reduce dependency on dumping grounds, officials said.

Last year, the BMC made it mandatory for large establishments to segregate waste at source to reduce the amount of trash reaching the dumping grounds, whose condition is being monitored by the Bombay High Court through a committee. Several housing societies and slums have also taken up composting of wet waste.

Mumbai generates close to 8,500 metric tonnes of garbage every day. After sustained efforts to reduce the pressure on the dumping grounds, including segregation at source and cracking down on debris being mixed in waste, the civic body has brought down this number to 7,100 metric tonnes.

Increasing capacity

The NGO has set up composters with a maximum capacity of 50 tonnes of waste every day. At the moment, the composters are processing 30 tonnes daily, yielding 22 tonnes of compost. Come-Post has deployed 25 labourers between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. at the site in Shivaji Nagar, Govandi.

Here, waste is first segregated into dry and wet, following which wet waste is sent for shredding and crushing. The crushed wet waste is fed into the composters, which process it in 48 hours. Municipal staff are working with the NGO’s labourers to monitor the work.

An official from the ward office said, “We want the composters to work at full capacity first; later, we can install composters with a garbage processing capacity of up to 100 tonnes daily.” The compost is being used in farms of Kolhapur.

Srinivas Kilje, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, M East ward, said, "This is the first project on a large scale in our area. The quality of the compost is very good, and it has already shown good results at the farms. We are specifically targeting slums to improve hygiene levels.” He added that inert waste will be used for making brickets instead of being simply discarded.

Ninad Powar, founder, Come-Post, said, “The BMC had been getting response for composting from housing societies, but the situation is complex in slums, as their wet waste goes directly into collection vehicles. That’s why we decided to take up the cause under Corporate Social Responsibility. This is the first time we are doing something on such a large scale.”

The compost is very good, and has already shown good results at the farms. We are specifically targeting slums to improve hygiene levelsSrinivas KiljeAsst. Municipal Commissioner, M East ward